Posada Del Abuelito: Daily room service, twin bed with private bathroom cost £11 p/night and includes full breakfast
The town itself is gorgeous with painted houses, paved streets, markets and shopping streets. We were so entranced with the mercado and fresh fruit and vegetables we ended up cooking dinner both nights. Fresh tortillas, frijoles, guacamole, fresh vegetables from the market, queso and ground up pepitas. It was fun sitting around the table discussing the days adventures with other travellers.
Main Mercado is Mercado municipal Jose Castillo Tielemans -the food one located north of the city. Enjoy getting lost and eating at one of the amazing food stands inside the market or the tiny taco stand at the back of the market. They were so surprised Greg ordered two plates of tacos! The pork, white and dark meat is cooked on the same grill but separated into two piles and spiced. Fresh tortillas laid out. Meat heaped on and salsas (hot ones) on a tray and you’re all set for an authentic antijohito.
We saw the Centro Textiles museum which is located behind the Ex Convento church (nobody mentions this online so took us a while to find!). Go around and through the markets it’s hard to find! There are so many stalls set up selling pompoms, toys, bags, and jewellery. It’s fun to walk around and see all the various things for sale. I got my woollen blend wrap / blanket from a lovely Chamula lady who now lives in San Cristobel. It was incredibly warm and useful at night, de rigour attire in our Posada.
It was fantastic to see the house known as NA BOLOM, home of archeologist Frans Blom and his wife, Gertrude Duby Blom, the documentary photographer, journalist, environmental pioneer, and jungle adventurer. They were an amazing couple who moved to San Cristobal in the 1950’s purchasing an old monastery to continue researching and studying the Lacondonda Maya. The only Mayan people to never be conquered by the Spanish.
The house today serves as a museum, hotel, research centre dedicated to preserving the Lacondonda people, the jungles of Chiapas and Mayan history.
We did one big day trip which is the BEST thing to do in San Cristobal – Day trip to San Juan Chamula & Zinacantan. Our hostel organised it and there are english and spanish speaking tours every day. One of the best things we did in our entire trip! (Its on the next post).
On our last full day we wandered with Chris a graduate archaeologist and an Aussie couple to try and do a city tour. However it didnt seem to be running…It was Sunday we realised!. So we wandered up to various churches, spent money buying all sorts of sweets in the Mercado Dulces, and ate lunch at a local comeda.
Wandering back to the hostel we ate all our dulces and then walked up to Our Lady of Guadeloupe Church to watch sunset – which was annoyingly obscured by trees. We ended up wandering through the back streets of the city and onto a ring round that surrounds San Cristobel. We found out it is also known as the “road of misery” by a couple of American ex-pats living here – the nice houses indicated this neighbourhood is where various NGOs and expats live. They told us of the Chamula families who were kicked out of their village for converting to christian evangelicalism and end up living in squalor along “Misery Road”. Really sad stuff.Wandering through the streets we saw some amazing graffitti in this town. To me this shows the towns independent spirit – many people have written about how the Zaptista movement started in this town and the graffiti seems to continue the anarchic spirit of the people. Although my favourite is the Space Mayan graffiti! Check it out!
Highly recommended Accommodation: Posada del Abuelito
Best restaurant for atmosphere: Na Bolom (sit for dinner in the dining room).
Best hot chocolate/ moka : Cacao Nativo – not cheap but amazing chocolate!!
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I’ve been to the very busy street of New York and had seen the beauty of Santorini in Greece. But I didn’t realize that San Cristobel de la Casas in South America would be as charmer as the cities I’ve mentioned above! I am happy to see that you enjoyed the trip and was able to maximize the trip by taking great photos. We need to discover more charm from South American countries because it’s true that they have a lot to show to the world.